Method and apparatus to retrofit legacy global positioning satellite (gps) and other global navigation satellite system (gnss) receivers

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method of receiving and decoding military L2 or L1 P(Y) or M-Code signals and re-transmitting these in real-time as legacy L1-C/A signals. The decoding process of the P(Y) or M-code is done through the programming by the user of secret keys into an embodiment of this invention. These military code signals are then decoded into standard PVT/PNT information which are typically transmitted on an industry standard serial port and format, which are then re-encoded using a real-time GPS simulator sub-system as legacy L1-C/A code signals, and transmitted to the output of the embodiment of this invention as a standard antenna signal. This output signal could be made compatible with any commercial L1-C/A code GPS receiver, and may thus be decoded by the GPS receiver as if the signals had been received directly from the Satellites. In one application of this embodiment of this present invention the legacy GPS receiver does not know the difference and cannot differentiate between signals generated by this embodiment of the present invention versus true GPS satellite signals received by a real GPS antenna. This embodiment of the present invention allows efficient replacement of legacy GPS antennae without having to change any of the system, setup, cabling, or programming of the legacy GPS receiver system. Another embodiment of this present invention may receive Glonass, BeiDou, or Galileo signals, and output legacy GPS signals to allow a glueless retrofit of legacy GPS receivers to Glonass, BeiDou, or Galileo compatibility.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/542,172, filed Dec. 3, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/990,956, filed Aug. 11, 2020, now U.S.Pat. No. 11,194,055, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/429,156, filed Feb. 9, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,809,384,the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to the retrofitting Global PositioningSystem (GPS) receivers, and in particular, to a method and apparatus toretrofit GPS receivers and other global navigation satellite system(GNSS) receivers.

New satellite systems are emerging. Many systems and vehicles havehardware and firmware which may be rendered useless by the changingsystem requirements and compatibility. Therefore, there is a need formethod and apparatus to retrofit GPS receivers and other GNSS receivers.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention include an interface apparatus forretrofitting a GNSS apparatus. The interface apparatus comprises anantenna configured to receive a GNSS signal, an amplifier coupled to theantenna to receive and amplify the GNSS signal, a GPS receiver coupledto the amplifier to receive the GNSS signal, and a GPS simulatorproviding a second GPS signal. The GPS receiver transforms the GNSSsignal into a Pulse Per Second (PPS) signal and a Position Velocity andTime/Position Navigation and Time (PVT/PNT) signal and the simulatorgenerates a simulation signal from the PPS signal and the PVT/PVNsignal.

In one embodiment the interface apparatus further includes a powercontroller capacitively coupled to the GPS simulator and a legacyreceiver. The GPS simulator provides the GPS signal and the powercontroller receives power from the legacy receiver over a singleconductor.

In yet another embodiment the power controller operates periodically todraw a charge from the legacy receiver. The charge is used to charge abattery for supplying current to the GPS receiver during on times.

Embodiments of the present invention include a method. The methodcomprises receiving a GNSS signal, amplifying the GNSS signal,transforming the GNSS signal into a PPS signal and a PVT/PNT signal, andsimulating a GPS signal from the PPS signal and the PVT/PNT signal.

In one embodiment the interface apparatus further includes attenuating aL1 C/A signal to be compatible with an L1 C/A antenna input, whereinsaid GPS signal includes said L1 C/A signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an apparatus to retrofit a GNSS receiver according toone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a module to retrofit a GNSS receiver according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a retrofitted GNSS system according to yet anotherembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Described herein are techniques for method and apparatus to retrofit GPSreceivers and other GNSS receivers. In the following description, forpurposes of explanation, numerous examples and specific details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the presentinvention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art thatthe present invention as defined by the claims may include some or allof the features in these examples alone or in combination with otherfeatures described below, and may further include modifications andequivalents of the features and concepts described herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an apparatus 100 to retrofit a GNSS receiver (notshown) according to one embodiment of the present invention. Apparatus100 includes antenna 101, amplifier 102, receiver 103, interface 104,simulator 105, oscillator 106, and attenuator 107. Receiver 100 may beused to retrofit an existing legacy GPS system to translate L1 and L2military signals into a simulated L1 commercial signal that the legacyGPS receiver may process. The translation of L1 or L2 may be in responseto available secret keying information provided at interface 104.

Apparatus 100 receives a signal at antenna 101. Antenna 101 may receiveencrypted P(Y) military code having carrier frequencies L1 and L2.Amplifier 102 is coupled to receive L1 and L2 GPS signals from antenna101. Receiver 103 is coupled to receive the amplified L1 and L2 GPSsignals from amplifier 102. Receiver 103 produces a one pulse per second(1 PPS) signal at output 108 and a position-velocity-timing and/orposition-navigation-timing (PVT/PNT) signal at output 109 from either L1or L2. Interface 104 accepts keying code information that controlswhether L2 GPS signals are processed. The default may be that only L1signals are processed when the keying code is absent. Simulator 105receives the 1 PPS and PVT/PNT signals and outputs a simulated(transcoded) L1 GPS signal. Attenuator 107 is coupled to receive thesimulated L1 GPS signal from simulator 105 and attenuate the signalenough so that a legacy GPS receiver (not shown) processes the signal asa normal L1 C/A GPS signal.

Oscillator 106 may be used to generate a calculated timing when the L1and L2 signal are not available or denied. Oscillator 106 may also beused in inertial navigation systems as described below. Transducer 110is coupled to simulator 105 to provide alternate input regarding speed,position, and/or direction. Transducer (sensor) 110 may be a gyro, amagnetometer, an accelerometer, celestial sensor, geo-mapping sensor, 3DRADAR sensor, EO/IR, or any collection of transducers. Transducer 110may be used to provide inertial navigation. Transducer 110 may be usedin conjunction with oscillator 106.

FIG. 2 illustrates a module 201 to retrofit a GNSS receiver 203according to another embodiment of the present invention. In thisembodiment, module 201 may be entirely powered by the legacy GPSreceiver (i.e. GNSS receiver 203) industry-standard power-feed designedto drive the original C/A L1 antenna amplifier. This may alleviate theneed for external power sources in the retrofit. Antenna 204 is coupledto amplifier 206 to provide L1 and L2 signals to module 201. Module 201includes GPS receiver 206, simulator 207, interface 210, and attenuator208 which operated similar to receiver 103, simulator 105, interface104, and attenuator 107 of FIG. 1 . Oscillator 209 couples to bothreceiver 206 and simulator 207 in this embodiment. Oscillator 209 may bea high-stability oscillator like a Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) andimprove holdover performance of direct-Y code acquisition which is veryimportant for the SAASM military GPS receiver. This may speed-up GPSre-acquisition after coming out of a tunnel, for example, and will aidthe inertial navigation functions.

A simulated signal couples to L1 GPS receiver 203 through blockingcapacitor 214, coaxial feed 215, and blocking capacitor 217. Radiofrequency (RF) blocking inductor 216 provides power to coaxial feed 215,and RF blocking inductor 213 passes power to power control 211. Powercontrol provides power to charge up battery 212 and provide power tomodule 201. Module 201 may operate periodically such that the batterymay be recharged during off times and ample operating current may besupplied during on times. This duty cycle of operation is described infurther detail below.

FIG. 3 illustrates a retrofitted system 300 according to yet anotherembodiment of the present invention. Retrofitted system 300 is anaircraft system. The retrofit portion of the system is illustratedthrough cutout 302, and the legacy portion is illustrated through cutout311. Retrofitted system 300 includes aircraft fuselage 301 and a module304 spliced between legacy antenna 303 and legacy GPS receiver 305. Thelegacy cable tied was cut and module 304 is coupled between cableportion 306A and 306B. Module 304 includes an L1 and L2 receiver 309, anL1 simulator 310 and power control 308. Power control 308 is coupled toa power source through cable 307. An external SAASM keying device mayalso connect to Module 304 to download secret decoding keys to thedevice.

Embodiments of the present invention include antenna systems thatreplace the legacy GNSS antenna with a similarly-sized GNSS transcoderas described below. This transcoder in one embodiment is comprised of areceiver section and a simulator/transcoder section that would receivethe desired GNSS system using the GNSS receiver, decode the GNSS signalsinto Position, Velocity, and Timing (PVT) data (also called PNT forPosition, Navigation, and Timing data), then re-encode this PVT/PNT datainto a legacy format in real-time using GNSS simulator technology. Thissimulated secondary GNSS signal would then be fed to the legacyequipment GNSS receiver via its legacy antenna cable, and this legacyreceiver would then decode the simulated legacy GNSS signal and generatePVT/PNT data as if it had received the same information directly fromthe legacy GNSS satellite antenna.

This embodiment may, for example, receive the military L2 GPS carrierfrequency using a secret P(Y) coding scheme, decode said P(Y) code intoraw PVT/PNT data (typically transmitted in the industry in the NMEA orICD-GPS-153 serial data format alongside 1 Pulse Per Second (1 PPS)time-mark), then re-encode in real-time said PVT/PNT data-stream into acommercial L1 C/A code GPS signal that can be decoded by any GPSreceiver in the world, such as those used on all US military vehicles,Man-Pack radios, car-navigation systems, Smart Phones, GPS Navigators,GPS timing receivers, etc. Field personnel may retrofit this transcoderto the legacy equipment's GPS antenna input quickly and with minimalchange in the existing legacy GPS system. This may allow forretrofitting any commercial L1 C/A compatible GPS receiver to be able toreceive the western-military standard L1/L2 P(Y) code. This retrofittingmay include only replacing the legacy GPS antenna with this transcoderembedded into a replacement GPS antenna to the legacy GPS receiver. Thistranscoder may also be configured to be inserted between the legacy GPSantenna, and the GPS receiver, thereby re-using the previously installedGPS antenna. This may allow for decoding the signals that may bepreviously unable to be decoded by the legacy GPS receiver (e.g. theP(Y) code in place of the C/A code, or Pseudolite signals according tospecification IS-GPS-250A to be converted to standard C/A code).

GNSS antennae typically include an internal signal amplifier. Thisamplifier is usually powered by a DC-power voltage which issuper-imposed upon the antenna RF signal, and typically provides between3.0V to 5V, or even up to 12V DC to the GNSS antenna. In anotherembodiment of present invention, this antenna power may be used to powera module as described in FIG. 3 . Such a module may be integrated byreplacing the legacy GNSS antenna with the transcoder GNSS antennasystem. In this case, the transcoder may only have a single wireconnection to the legacy GNSS receiver through the antenna feed wire.The transcoder may send a transcoded legacy GNSS signal to the legacyGNSS receiver, and receive its operating power from the legacy GNSSreceiver.

Other embodiments of the invention may consume more power than thelegacy GNSS receiver is capable of transmitting via its GNSS antennacable. For example, a typical commercial GPS receiver may only be ableto provide 60 mA at 5V to the GNSS antenna (equaling a power of 0.3 Wattmaximum that can be provided), but the transcoder module may consume 1.5Watts operating power. In this case, the transcoder module may operateonly periodically, and go to a sleep mode with very little powerconsumption (e.g. 0.01 Watts) most of the time. During the sleepperiods, the transcoder module may store the 5V 60 mA power from thelegacy GNSS receiver in a battery system by charging a battery. With aduty cycle of say 1-to-9, the transcoder module would be in a sleepstate 90% of the time, and thus be able to charge the battery 90% of theoperating time. The transcoder module may therefore operate for say 6minutes of every hour, and, while sleeping, charge the transcoder moduleinternal battery the remaining 54 minutes of every hour. This system ontime would be equivalent to a vehicle with this system driving through atunnel for 54 minutes of every hour (no GNSS reception) while providinga GNSS PVT/PNT solution for 6 minutes of every hour. This type oftranscoder module power management may make retrofitting vehiclespossible with current technology (i.e. power consumption capability) forcurrently deployed vehicles with legacy GNSS devices. As technologyevolves, the power consumption and thus the required duty cycle of thetranscoder module may be reduced to zero and therefore provide enoughpower to operate continuously. Other embodiments of this invention mayreceive operating power from other sources such as vehicle powersupplies, batteries, solar cells, or any other form of power, allowingit to operate continuously and without drawing any power from the legacyGNSS receiver.

Power management of this transcoder module may also create a simulatedantenna load to be compatible to legacy GNSS antenna systems. Forexample, the mass-produced DAGR and PLUGR SAASM handheld military GPSreceivers measure and expect a certain current draw from the attachedGPS antenna, and would not operate properly if the current draw iseither too high or too low.

In yet another embodiment of this invention, a transcode module maytranscode PVT/PNT information between differing GNSS systems. Forexample, a Glonass to GPS embodiment of this invention could receiveGlonass signals and transcode and transmit these in GPS-format to a GPSreceiver. This could be useful to allow sales of legacy GPS-onlyequipment inside Russia where presently Glonass capability is alsorequired, and GPS-only equipment cannot be sold. Glonass also hascertain advantages at the earths' poles where GPS reception is notpossible (due to differences in the satellites' ephemeris) and may thusbe used to navigate close to the poles such as in Alaska with legacy GPSequipment. Other embodiments of this invention could be used totranscode any GNSS system to any other GNSS system, such as BeiDou toGlonass, QZSS to GPS, Galileo to GPS, Pseudolite IS-GPS-250A to GPS, etcetc.

In another embodiment of this present invention, a transcode module mayuse external or internal GNSS simulators that receive PVT/PNT referencesignals from various other sources such as vehicle wheel-sensor systems,or legacy inertial navigation systems, or GNSS Pseudo-lites or othergeo-referencing systems that would be transcoded to legacy GNSS signalsby an embodiment of this present invention, and thus obfuscate to thelegacy GNSS receiver the true source of the PVT/PNT information.

In another embodiment of this present invention, a transcode module mayuse other forms of PVT/PNT encoding such as IRIG-B, Have Quick, or anyother used PVT/PNT type of signal rather than NMEA or ICD-GPS-153standardized formatted PVT/PNT information.

In embodiments of this present invention, a transcode module may addinertial navigation capability using gyros, magnetometers, andaccelerometers (inside an Inertial Measurement Unit, Inertial NavigationSystem, IMU/INS) that would allow generating a calculated position andheading fix even if the GNSS signals are denied or not existent (whiledriving through a tunnel, for example, or if there are any type of GNSSsignal jammers in the vicinity), and thus the legacy GNSS receiver wouldcontinue to generate a PVT/PNT fix as if it had good satellite receptioneven without any true satellites being received. This improved PVT/PNTsignal may be transmitted to the legacy GNSS receiver via the built-inor externally-attached GNSS simulator. This INS would also allowup-converting the periodic PVT/PNT data that usually is generated in 1Hz intervals to higher intervals such as 10 Hz or 100 Hz which will aidin the legacy GPS receiver to track the GNSS simulator more smoothly.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a transcode module mayadd a high-stability oscillator using chip-scale-atomic-clocks (CSACs)or high-stability ovenized oscillators (OCXOs) that would allowgenerating a calculated timing fix even if the GNSS signals are deniedor not existent (while driving through a tunnel for example), and thusthe legacy GNSS receiver would continue to generate a timing fix as ifit had good satellite reception even without any true satellites beingreceived. This improved PVT/PNT signal may be transmitted to the legacyGNSS receiver via the built-in or externally-attached GNSS simulator.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a transcode modulemay combine high-stability CSAC or OCXO oscillator capability withInertial Navigation systems, to increase PVT/PNT accuracy duringGNSS-denied operation. This improved PVT/PNT signal may be transmittedto the legacy GNSS receiver via the built-in or externally-attached GNSSsimulator.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a transcode modulemay combine high-stability CSAC or OCXO oscillator capability withInertial Navigation systems and with peer-to-peer navigation using otherwell-documented methods of navigation such as visual decoding of cameraimages, geo-location using time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) orfrequency-difference-of-arrival (FDOA) methods to increase PVT/PNTaccuracy during GNSS-denied operation. These types of implementationsmay also follow the new IS-GPS-250A Pseudolite signal specification.This improved PVT/PNT signal could then be transmitted to the legacyGNSS receiver via the built-in or externally-attached GNSS simulator.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a transcode modulemay use a SAASM GPS receiver with the new military M-Code decodingcapability rather than only P(Y) code, and re-transmit in C/A code.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a transcode module may use aSAASM GPS receiver with the new military M-Code decoding capability, andre-transmit in legacy military P(Y) code for retrofitting legacymilitary GPS receivers to the latest GPS military coding standards.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a transcode modulemay directly use the received satellites' information such as theDoppler shift, carrier-phase shifts, relativistic effects, Almanac,Ephemeris, and other information directly when re-transmitting thePVT/PNT information, and may communicate between the integrated GNSSreceiver and GNSS simulator/transmitter via raw digital data rather thanfirst decoding and translating the received information into NMEA orICD-153 PVT/PNT data. In one embodiment of this present invention suchraw satellite data may simply be re-encoded from P(Y) code to C/A code,and all of the carrier frequency/phase information be used directly togenerate this new C/A code. This type of implementation may require lessprocessing power, circuitry, time-delay, and may thus offers a lowercost solution to previously described embodiments of present invention.

In one embodiment a transcode module may transcode a single GNSS systemto multiple GNSS systems. For example, Galileo signals, when they becomeavailable, may have much higher positioning and timing accuracy than GPSor Glonass signals. Galileo signals may be transcoded into two GNSSsignals for example GPS and SBAS (WAAS/MSAS/EGNOS) which would improvethe PVT/PNT accuracy of the legacy GPS receiver to bring this closer tothe higher accuracies achievable with Galileo. Alternately, the Galileosignal may be encoded by the GNSS simulator into simultaneousGPS/GLONASS/BeiDou/QZSS/SBAS signals for maximum accuracy andflexibility, or into any other combination of the latter GNSS systems,encoding more than one single GNSS signal.

In another embodiment, a transcode module may use an amplifier after theGNSS simulator to power a GNSS transmitting antenna to create a localGNSS field of operation that allows wireless access to the GNSSsimulator output signal. This transcode module may re-transmit thePVT/PNT signals and also transcode them into other carrier frequenciesand coding schemes. This transcode module may be used for open-airapplications if the apparatus changes the carrier frequency so that there-transmitting antenna does not have the same carrier frequency of thereceiving antenna to avoid feedback and cross-talk. All legacy GNSSreceivers within this reception field of operation would track thesimulator output signal because its signal strength would over-power thetrue sat signal levels. This is called GPS spoofing or GPS jamming ifdone maliciously. This could be used benevolently in a scenario whereone high quality military GNSS receiver using say the L2 frequencyencodes the PVT/PNT into a commercial C/A L1 code that any GPS receiversin the vicinity of the apparatus could receive, and synchronize to. Thismay be useful in a small platoon situation, for example, where the exactposition of every soldiers is not necessarily required, but allsoldiers' legacy GNSS receivers should be time and position synchronizedto one single receiver. This may increase time-accuracy transmissionbetween soldiers, and at the same time reduce costs by only requiring asingle expensive military receiver that all soldiers in the platoon canshare.

In one embodiment, a method includes generating an L1 C/A GPS signalhaving asynchronous data and immediately passing this signal to areceiving stage without electromagnetic propagation.

In another embodiment, a first receiver draws periodic power from asecond receiver. The power is sourced from the signal input of thesecond receiver to the signal output of the first receiver. The firstreceiver is coupled to a first battery, and the second receiver iscoupled to a second battery. A periodic switching regulator may be usedto implement the charging of the first battery from the second battery.

In yet another embodiment, that the antenna, antenna amplifier, SAWFilter and the GPS receiver is situated inside an external module toprovide a PVT signal (NMEA, IS-GPS-153 format, etc.). An interfaceapparatus may include electronics to receive the PVT signal andtranscode the PVT signal into an RF (radio frequency) signal usingreal-time simulation. The RF signal may feed directly into the antennainput of the legacy receiver. In this embodiment, the interfaceapparatus may attach to the bottom of an integrated GPS antenna/receiver(L1 and L2 Military SAASM GPS) that is commercially available. A numberof military radios and jammers that can only receive L1 C/A commercialGPS code may be retrofitted with this interface apparatus and enable thelegacy equipment to continue to be utilized in the field.

The above description illustrates various embodiments of the presentinvention along with examples of how aspects of the present inventionmay be implemented. The above examples and embodiments should not bedeemed to be the only embodiments, and are presented to illustrate theflexibility and advantages of the present invention. Based on the abovedisclosure, other arrangements, embodiments, implementations andequivalents will be evident to those skilled in the art and may beemployed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1: An interface apparatus for retrofitting a GNSS apparatus, saidinterface apparatus comprising: an antenna configured to receive a firstGPS transmission; an amplifier coupled to said antenna to receive andamplify a first GPS signal; a GPS receiver coupled to said amplifier toreceive said first GPS signal, said GPS receiver transforming said firstGPS signal into a PPS signal and a PVT/PNT signal; and a GPS transcoderproviding a second GPS signal from said PPS signal and said PVT/PVNsignal. 2-18. (canceled)